and the road goes ever on and on
Feb. 20th, 2004 05:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threeplusfireSandoval County in New Mexico is now offering same sex marriage licenses and I wonder if this will spread further. I feverently hope so.
Do we, as Americans, have a duty to struggle against unjust laws? Should we allow discrimination against certain groups of people in our society based on dislike of their skin color, their gender, their religion, their choice of sexual partners and lovers? I can't help but be reminded of Animal Farm right now, and the pigs chanting "Four legs good, two legs better." Some are still considered more equal than others.
Should we not extend the same rights to every citizen of our country? Would a ballot measure declaring only marriages between couples of the same race could be married be allowed to stand? Or one that declared only men could make choose their partners? Would we allow only members of certain religions to marry? Would we sit quietly and wait for courts to decide these issues which why in the face of our commitment to equality? Or would we engage in civil disobedience, as we have so many times in our history?
Government sanctioned partnership doesn't mean a damn thing about anyone's relationship to their love. It exists to allow for joint property, shared medical and tax decisions and all those strange details of life in bureaucracy. Government sanctioned marriage isn't so much about love, but about rights.
I hear so much talk about how marriage needs to be defended. Defended from what? Men and women in love? Would it not make more sense to do something about our country's significant divorce rate instead? Could we not instead turn our energies towards building better relationships, being better people?
These are the things I'm thinking about today.
Why did I get married?
I married Alan because I loved him more than I imagined could be possible. I didn't need a marriage license or a ceremony to tell me that however. I married Alan because I wanted to share everything I had with him. I wanted to share health insurance decisions, taxes, a name, a home, grocery shopping and all those mudnane details of life. I wanted to publicly and formally declare my love for him and join our lives together. I wanted there to be no question in anyone's mind that we would go together to the end of the road. I wanted to have a celebration of our declaration and our love. We did, and I will be grateful eternally for everyone involved because it was exactly what we wanted it to be.
Everyone should have the same opportunity I had. It just comes down to a matter of human decency.
Do we, as Americans, have a duty to struggle against unjust laws? Should we allow discrimination against certain groups of people in our society based on dislike of their skin color, their gender, their religion, their choice of sexual partners and lovers? I can't help but be reminded of Animal Farm right now, and the pigs chanting "Four legs good, two legs better." Some are still considered more equal than others.
Should we not extend the same rights to every citizen of our country? Would a ballot measure declaring only marriages between couples of the same race could be married be allowed to stand? Or one that declared only men could make choose their partners? Would we allow only members of certain religions to marry? Would we sit quietly and wait for courts to decide these issues which why in the face of our commitment to equality? Or would we engage in civil disobedience, as we have so many times in our history?
Government sanctioned partnership doesn't mean a damn thing about anyone's relationship to their love. It exists to allow for joint property, shared medical and tax decisions and all those strange details of life in bureaucracy. Government sanctioned marriage isn't so much about love, but about rights.
I hear so much talk about how marriage needs to be defended. Defended from what? Men and women in love? Would it not make more sense to do something about our country's significant divorce rate instead? Could we not instead turn our energies towards building better relationships, being better people?
These are the things I'm thinking about today.
Why did I get married?
I married Alan because I loved him more than I imagined could be possible. I didn't need a marriage license or a ceremony to tell me that however. I married Alan because I wanted to share everything I had with him. I wanted to share health insurance decisions, taxes, a name, a home, grocery shopping and all those mudnane details of life. I wanted to publicly and formally declare my love for him and join our lives together. I wanted there to be no question in anyone's mind that we would go together to the end of the road. I wanted to have a celebration of our declaration and our love. We did, and I will be grateful eternally for everyone involved because it was exactly what we wanted it to be.
Everyone should have the same opportunity I had. It just comes down to a matter of human decency.
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no subject
Date: 2004-02-20 07:20 pm (UTC)Me ? Bitter? Nah...
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Date: 2004-02-20 08:38 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-20 11:04 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-21 12:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-20 09:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-02-20 10:19 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2004-02-21 01:44 pm (UTC)